Valve Corporation's Steam application, a wonderful piece of desktop software that's become synonymous with PC gaming, brings its community and marketplace to Google-powered smartphones and tablets in the form of a mobile app. The attractive and highly useful Steam for Android (free) makes it easy to chat with individual Steam friends, catch up with gaming news, browse the massive video game catalog, and make purchases without powering on your gaming rig. Valve's app does a good job of replicating the Steam experience, but diehards will recognize a few missteps and missing features. Still, it's an app you'll want on your Android device as one of Lord Gaben's almighty Steam sales approaches.

Getting SteamyLet's quickly get this out of the way: Steam for Android isn't a platform for playing video games. Instead, it lets you partake in the many other activities associated with the desktop application, such as chatting one-on-one with friends via the built-in messaging system and themed groups (such as Steam Family Sharing). Unfortunately, you can't participate in group chats or see your friends' in-game achievements, both of which you can do in Steam's desktop software.

On the upside, Steam News is where you can read Valve press releases, the Steam Blog, software update information, Steam client-update news, and syndicated articles from the likes of Eurogamer, Kotaku, PC Gamer, and other powerhouse gaming outlets. Some of the stories on the homepage were weeks old when looked, so don't imagine you can replace your browser bookmarks with this app just yet.

Shut Up and Take My MoneyPurchasing games from Catalog is where Steam for Android shines. The digital market is divided into three sections if you don't count the default home screen: New, Popular, and Specials. The first two sections are self-explanatory, but Specials is where Steam's famous game sales reside. For example, BattleBlock Theater, an arcade-style brawler, saw its priced slashed by an incredible 66 percent during my time with the app. With deals like that, Steam's reputation for spurring impulse shopping is understandable. You can even pre-purchase games and add titles to your wish list.

Steam for Android charges the credit card associated with your Steam account, so you don't have to worry about whipping out plastic on your commute. You can delete that card from the mobile app, but to add another, you'll need to go back to the Web. You also can't redeem Steam codes via the app.

Games bought via Steam for Android require you to return to your computer to download them. It would be grand if you could remotely download games to an active computer, but that's just a fantasy at the moment.

Obviously, there are several small, forgivable gripes with Steam for Android, but it's the app's overall pokiness that consistently grinds my gears. I tested the app on a Samsung Galaxy Note II and then Nexus 6, and experienced quite a bit of lag when moving among store sections on both handsets.

A Mildly Troubled Shopping ExperienceStill, if you dabble in Steam even a little bit, Steam for Android is worth downloading. The app may not display friends' achievements, let you participate in group chats, redeem codes, or remotely install games, but it gives you the power to make game purchases from anywhere your smartphone or tablet can connect to a cellular or Wi-Fi signal. And, really, that's all you need when Call of Duty's price is temporarily slashed to $5 and you're stuck in line at the post office.

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For more than a decade, Jeffrey L. Wilson has penned gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for a variety of publications, including 1UP, 2D-X, The Cask, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. He now brings his knowledge and skillset to PCMag as Senior Analyst.
When he isn't staring at a monitor (or two) and churning out Web hosting, music, utilities, and video game copy, Jeffrey mentors, practices Jeet Kune Do, blogs, podcasts, and speaks at the occasional con. He also collects vinyl and greatly enjoys...
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